Thursday, February 22, 2007

Play it Fair

Now here's the truth. An independent commission accused the Philippine Armed Forces of tolerating, even encouraging political assassinations -- but found that those killed by the Communist movement far outnumbered the victims of the military. (Philippine Star)

There is evidence that the military "allowed, tolerated and even encouraged" political assassinations, and that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan was among those who justified the killings, according to the report of a special commission. The report – made public only yesterday – of the fact-finding commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, also stated that those killed by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) far outnumber the victims of summary executions carried out by "a small military group." ...

The Melo Commission said it is not "ignorant or unmindful of the crimes committed" by the communist rebels or the benefits of having "a decent military to defend our freedom and way of life." But it also urged the military not to stoop to the level of communist rebels "with their lawless, treacherous methodologies" but to respect the rule of law in running after enemies of the state.

Great. I will now wait, with bated breath for the United Nations and Human Rights Organizations all over the world to seek the custody not only of any murderers in uniform, but also of the man who leads the Communist Party of the Philippines, the man who probably masterminded the murder of Colonel James Rowe. Jose Maria Sison, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines. They don't have far to look for Sison. He currently lives in the Netherlands, not far from the Hague. For far too long has Sison ordered the death of innocent people with impunity, protected by the Left in the Europe. The same people who profess to care about international morality and humanity have this man to hold up as a mirror to themselves.

The communists are the ones in Congress proposing this legislation. Your basic type A-1 commie we use to have no problem killing. Now our military has a new kinder gentler six part psychometric one must brain through before squeezing off a round. It's nuts.

We cannot fight. Specifically, we cannot fight a global war — against anything really — but we especially don’t seem to be able to fight one against terrorism.

We, that is, the United States of America, are the greatest country with the smartest, bravest, most compassionate people on the planet. The problem is we have forgotten how to fight. We have elected presidents simply because they are not someone else, and we have elections in which we argue about a war that happened 40 years ago, but hardly touched the one we are in right now. We send soldiers into war without the right gear and claim it’s OK, even as they die.(more)

Your distaste for PGMA has you way overreacting. The symptom Wretchard describes here is not limited to what is going on in the Philippines just another instance.

For instance, nearly everyone my age can quote the number of people killed in Hitler's (a supposed "right-winger") concentration camps. However, how many people have any idea of the number killed by "Uncle-Joe"?

These commissions & organizations would have a lot more all-around respect if they would seek the truth. Instead they seek to bolster the cause of the likes of Sison. They air-brush his crimes and cry hysterically about the crimes of the other side.

Sison sits in his nice, probably Netherland subsidized, house and his gang burn down schools and destroy cell towers. I guess the NPA means No Phones Allowed or is it No Phonics Allowed?

BTW, you can create fully linked anchors in the commentary here.

Dishonest reports such as Wretchard addresses give PGMA the ability to paint herself as being treated unfairly.

Europe's leftist jurists had all sorts of time to chase an aging Augusto Pinochet around the world with arrest warrants.

Yet, nearly two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the eastern bloc, aside from a few high profile reckonings -- East Germany's Erich Hoenecker comes to mind -- there is no similar interest in bringing to account any of the aging commissars puttering around Europe responsible for the pile of corpses 50 million high, the enslavement of half of Europe, and all the manifest atrocities of Leftist regimes.

Sison sits in his nice, probably Netherland subsidized, house and his gang burn down schools and destroy cell towers. I guess the NPA means No Phones Allowed or is it No Phonics Allowed?

No Philippine Advancement.

Dishonest reports such as Wretchard addresses give PGMA the ability to paint herself as being treated unfairly.

And of course, her prior restrait on the testimony of legislators and her raids on this and that newspaper and issuing government "Journalistic Guidelines" are such an inspiration to authoritarians everywhere that it's no surprise you can even see her halo in this shot: PGMA2004.jpg

Your distaste for PGMA has you way overreacting. The symptom Wretchard describes here is not limited to what is going on in the Philippines just another instance.

For instance, nearly everyone my age can quote the number of people killed in Hitler's (a supposed "right-winger") concentration camps. However, how many people have any idea of the number killed by "Uncle-Joe"?

These commissions & organizations would have a lot more all-around respect if they would seek the truth. Instead they seek to bolster the cause of the likes of Sison. They air-brush his crimes and cry hysterically about the crimes of the other side.

Sison sits in his nice, probably Netherland subsidized, house and his gang burn down schools and destroy cell towers. I guess the NPA means No Phones Allowed or is it No Phonics Allowed?

in what way am i being unfair? how am i or the UN commission bolstering the cause of Sison? what's the connection with the NPAs burning down schools and the assassination of party-list members from the left?

here's what i posted in response to wretchard's comment. btw, does your wife translate some of the tagalog for you?

But to justify or make excuses re the political assasinationations of Arroyo critics from the Left and other left-leaning political and militant student organizations is simply beyond the pale.

If Bayan Muna or Akbayan or the League of Filipino Students are indeed involved in terrorism, then this admin needs to declare them as terrorist organizations na and go after them.

I guess for the ARroyo admin, there is no difference between the NPAs and a member of the League of Filipino Students. lol.

Almost all of the left-leaning labor, student, socialist, and women's organizations that you can find in the Philippines are anti-Arroyo (But they were also anti-Erap before too.) And like most lefty organizations, they're predictably against the US military presence, anti-Bush, anti-Iraq War. Not surprising since they are typical of most lefty organizations and groups found in the US, Europe and around the world.

What is happening inside the Philippines right now though, and Wretchard seems to be defending this, are assassinations being perpetrated against ARroyo critics associated with the leftist and militant organizations. Many of those murdered were student-members of Bayan Muna, KMU, League of Filipino Students or Akbayan.

Think of it this way, if members of MOVE ON.org or Code Pink or Not in Our Name or A.N.S.W.E.R. started getting whacked one by one by the CIA or elements of the US military because of their vocal and critical opposition to Bush, his policies, and the Iraq War, Bush would have been gone by now and some members of his cabinet and members of the military would be facing jail time. Thank god that has not happened in the US, but that's what is like under Arroyo's watch.

(And if these Leftist organizations were so bad, if they're the "enemies of the state", why did Arroyo and military right-wingers joined forces with them in 2000 to topple Estrada?)

To me, these assassinations are signs of a corrupt, inefficient and highly politicized military (dagdag bawas) under Arroyo.

re wretchard's comment on joma sison:

I agree with Wretch re Joma. So why doesn't Arroyo try harder to have Sison extradited? I'm sure if she puts her mind to it, she can come up with something compelling that will force the Dutch gov't to hand Joma over to the Arroyo gov't. But why couldn't they? Instead, this administration adopts a very permissive culture of targetting and assassinating lefty activists.

More: Majority of those in the military are not corrupt of course, like Gudani and Balutan, but around 30% are. And I don't believe most in the military engage in extra-judicial killings, but a few are, and they're being protected.

Dishonest reports such as Wretchard addresses give PGMA the ability to paint herself as being treated unfairly.

the only killings the UN worries about is when the Police/military kill leftists.

But what about when Barangay captains or mayors are killed by leftists? Or policemen killed by unknown assailants? Or security guards killed when the NPA decide they need money and hit a bank? Or when the NPA kill one of their own who decided to leave?

And how about when a hit man from the NPA is hired by one businessman to kill a rival businessman?

By making it sound like all the killings were bad government versus good Communists, they do a disservice.

And ironically, the killing increased partly because Gloria banned the death penalty, and jail breaks and amnesties are common...who wudda thot?

These Leftist Groups have 2 faces, and also the Church Activists etc in the Philippines. Before, they always rally against the US Military presence in the Philippines. Also Anti US rally in US Embassy shouting US Murderer and Imperialist. Now they are crying to hte UN and the US to help in the extrajudicial killings. How about the innocent civilians that were executed by the New Peoples Army? for many many years since 1980;s? How they are not being investigated by the United Nations? or the International HUman Rights Group? I know people personally that were killed by the NPAs.